Our Week

It was a good one

Hayride & pumpkin patch pickin'

Reading nest building

21 week picture taking

Black widow spotting (& smashing) in the garage & hair cutting in the sink

Monster truck building (FOR FREE) @ Lowe's

Girls night outing

Baby Showering

(Best one I've ever been to-whole families were invited, BBQ & pumpkin painting for the kids!)

Baby bears diapering

New recipe making

(My early Christmas present to me from me)

My new favorite picture drawing

Card board box playing

And successful Christmas card picture taking

(the kind where you turn on the camera timer & hope everyone is looking generally straight ahead)

I'm sooooo excited for Halloween week!!!

Zoo & Boo

We went to St Louis last weekend to go to the temple. We swapped with the Tolman fam so Jeremy & I could actually go into the temple at the same exact time! That really doesn't happen ever so that was really nice.

The best decision we made all weekend (except eating at Steak & Shake) was instead of putting the kids down at 7pm like normal & fighting with them to fall asleep in the same room (meaning Emma doesn't know how to sleep with other people in the same room & just squeals & laughs until really late) we got them ready for bed, dimmed all the lights & plopped them in front of America's funniest home videos or whatever it's called now until after 9pm. I don't know if their senses of humor aren't developed yet or the host guy just wasn't really that funny but instead of inducing laughter it induced lethargy & they were all practically asleep on the bed by 9pm.

Hyrum & Nora

Hunter & Lucy

Justin & Sam

I swear we did more than watch TV. Friday they played at the park while we were in the temple & we went for a long walk around the hotel on Saturday while the Tolmanitudes were in the temple.

We happened to stop at Steak & Shake for lunch & unbeknownst to us kids meals are FREE on weekends. At least at that location. I think Steak & Shake will be getting our patronage more often on Saturdays.

Here is Hyrum with Sam, his current penpal & future wife

End of our temple & zoo trip

It was kind of a crazy couple days because it seemed like one of our kids was crying almost the whole waking time. Of course it was 65% Justin but with stellar, exceptional performances by Emma & Hunter. Jeremy & I came to the conclusion (again) that we just can't take our kids out in public. Especially restaurants.

But you know we will will anyway!

And here are a couple of pictures of this gorgeous Halloween quilt that Nana made us! I think the boys would love to sleep with it but I want to hang it on the wall. It is too awesome not to show off. My favorite part are the pumpkins on the corners.

And my new 'fravwrit' picture. Hunter is always so happy (bordering on giddiness) when running. He's been that way ever since a baby. When Hyrum was running around in our basement Hunter wasn't happy unless I picked him up & started running around too.

And I hope he always pronounces the word favorite 'fravwrit'.

7th Heaven

Guess what I've been up to the last few months?

Yes, laying on the couch a lot, trying to sleep, rest, relax & ignore the mayhem that 4 kids can & will create. Well not really lately but for the months of July & August & a itty bitty part of September.

Any guesses as to why?

That's right, Shakespear baby #5 is on the way!!!!!!

Things have been a bit different this time around. Besides my parents, we didn't really tell anyone until recently. Like within the last 2 weeks. Usually I'm so excited I'm telling people we're thinking about trying to get pregnant :) But for some reason I just didn't want to tell anyone. But now everyone can know!

Also, Jeremy wouldn't let me take a pregnancy test because he says as soon as I do I get violently ill the same day or the day after so I never took a test. I don't know if it's because I didn't take a test or what but this pregnancy has been so easy compared to my last 3! It's nothing short of a miracle in my opinion. We were all ready to hire a nanny for 3 months but I never got anywhere near as sick as I always do. No hospital stays, no losing 15 pounds in 3 weeks, no throwing up every single thing I put in my mouth, no dehydration or taking Zofran-it was seriously amazing. Half of the days I didn't even throw up at all! Yay!

There's a good chance this will be our last kid. A huge part of me is happy & relieved about it. I love having kids but I don't like being pregnant, I'm feeling old & extra tired so it's nice thinking this will be the last time. But then once in a while I think having 6 kids would be great.

This has been a really neat experience for me. I have wanted 5 kids close together for a long time but had decided that I could only handle being pregnant 4 times. So when the twins came along I saw it as my chance to still get my 5 kids. The last 9 months or so both Jeremy & I have felt like someone was missing in our family & I've never felt that before now.

We have a friend that is an ultrasound tech so about 10 weeks along she snuck us in the back door for an early ultrasound. The only reason I wanted one was to make sure there was just ONE baby in there & not two. I cannot express in words how scared I was that we were having twins again so we definitely had a party that night celebrating only 1 baby!

Part of me dreads getting bigger & showing more, not just because of the whole feeling fat thing but I dread the looks & comments. I do not like attention so having four little kids in a row including twins is not the way to avoid attention! I know it shouldn't get to me but I just get tired of it-even the nice things people say. So I'm just assuming the looks & comments will be more abundant than ever. So here's to helping me get over that.

The first time we met our doctor

Doc: Sooooooo.....congratulations you guys

Us: Thank you

Doc: Are you excited about it?

Us: Yes we are very excited

Doc: A bit of a surprise though eh?

Us: (another glance) Um, nope, no surprise here

She didn't respond to that answer. It was kind of funny!

Gender: We have 3 votes for a girl & I think if Emma could form complete sentences she would vote for a girl too so it really should be 4 votes girl & 2 undecided. All 3 of my older boys want a girl. Hyrum & Hunter are pretty much set in having a girl so if it's a boy I think they'll be a little disappointed. They both go around the house saying 'There are 4 boys & 3 girls. Two on the outside & 1 in your tummy!' I told Hunter the other day 'It could be another boy you know' & he said 'But it's really a girl Mommy'. I would love it either way. I think it would be fun for Emma to have a sister but I love my little boys & I would love to have another boy. I've always wanted maybe 1 girl & lots of boys. And who knows what Justin's vote is.

I'm due the end of February/beginning of March & we find out TOMORROW the gender so stay tuned for that. And I hope to get a more definite due date then.

I'm getting so excited to snuggle a little infant again!!!! Hooray!!! I feel like I really missed out on that with the twins, it was just too crazy having both of them, it will be nice to only have one to take care of & snuggle :)

Ahhhhhh....conference

It was a GREAT weekend! And this is why.

1. Conference was wonderful & inspiring as usual. There were many things said that I needed to hear but the one that stands out the most is President Uchtdorf's talk. He talked about how even if we feel insignificant or small or that our abilities are limited we are not invisible to God. He cares if we're doing our best (& everyone's best is different), if we're inclining our hearts to Him & if we're willing to help others. Our worth has little to do with what the world values. Not to go into it much but I really struggle with feeling some of those things he mentioned & I really needed to hear what he said. It was sad when President Monson again said goodbye. And as usual Jeremy & I wished it was every 3 months instead of 6. Sigh...

2. The boys were soooo reverent with their packets & puzzles to work on! And the babies napped during both morning sessions so it was very peaceful.

3. Jeremy took the big boys CAMPING! Which they've only been trying to do for the last two years. It has always rained or we've had car troubles or something has gotten in the way every time they could have gone.

4. I had two evenings all to myself. Don't get me wrong-I love having my husband home 99 times out of 100 but I really needed some my time space. I watched the Relief Society broadcast I had missed the previous weekend and finished 'The Help' (great book).

5. In between Saturday sessions we took the kids to ride in go-karts (well really they were race cars you know). Hunter seemed nervous the whole time but said he had fun & I think Hyrum liked it although he said it was scary going around curves. But Jeremy & I had a blast. Maybe we'll go again for a date & race each other.

6. Take out Chinese for dinner-ohhhh yummy!

7. HALLOWEEN decorating Sunday before & in between conference sessions. I love all of them even though I know they're pretty ghetto looking but it was so fun to make them with the kids & to see them have a blast with it. Halloween is my second favorite holiday & it's just barely behind Christmas. The only reason Christmas wins is because of all the traditions associated with it. I am feeling on top of this holiday season thing & it feels good. We already have the costumes planned & it will cost probably 5 bucks total. Already know what we need to do for Thanksgiving & I'm already working on Christmas stuff.

Poor lover fell asleep with his book in his hand after Priesthood session. My Dad used to come home & share his notes with us on what he learned & I love that Jeremy comes home & does the same thing with me.

I just wanted to add a couple things. Hunter was saying his personal prayer one night this week & he said he was thankful that we could hear the prophet talk to us. That made me so happy! And then he said he was thankful for the treats we would eat during conference. :) We try really hard to have lots of fun things planned for conference weekend so the kids will be excited & look forward to it. And they really have, by far the most, this time around. I was telling them about my favorite holidays & Hyrum said 'Well don't forget about conference Mommy.' So to him it's like a holiday I guess. I know it's not really listening to talks for 8 hours that gets them so excited but still, hopefully it will help it sink in & someday they'll enjoy it for itself.

Happy October!